Gold and silver shining bright—hit three-month highs

Gold and silver prices climbed Thursday to three-and-a-half month highs as European stock markets fell and the dollar weakened after the release of the US Federal Reserve minutes confirming its benign stance on interest rate.

The yellow metal gained 1.3%, reaching $1,345 per ounce at 12:37 GMT on the COMEX in New York, while silver jumped as much as 2.3% to $21.55 an ounce, with the worsening situation in Israel and a possible banking crisis in Portugal adding to reasons for investors to hold some gold.

Both precious metals have rebounded strongly since early June, with gold up 8% and silver 16% since then.

Other precious metals were also dragged higher by gold. Platinum added 1.3% reaching $1,518 an ounce, a level not seen since September last year. Palladium also won big, reaching $875 an ounce, the highest price since February 2001, before easing to $868 an ounce in late afternoon trading in London.